danna's Profile

I still like it a lot, it's sooooo much better than electric. The main thing I would caution is not to get one like this that has digital touchpad. I wish I had knobs. It's VERY annoying to come back to the stove top and discover something you thought was cooking has been turned off...apparently you cleaned over the controls or what not. Also, on my model, you have to first touch the box for the eye you want to control before you use the up/down heat arrows. Invariably, I forget and change the wrong eye.

Sweet! In addition to the Admiral, try West End bakery for lunch and breakfast, Biscuit Head for when you really deserve a big lunch, Sunny Point as I mentioned before, Check the food trucks at the Brew Pump just across from West End bakery.

Wow, I see what you mean. I looked around for you and Aloft was $329, Indigo $244 and the best value I saw in downtown was Renaissance at $199. I think everything is $100 more than normal that weekend. I used to be in the same boat for the Cooper River Bridge Run before I lucked into a friend w/ a house down there.

If Rennaisance worked for you, you would be within walking distance of Curate, Zambra, Salsa, White Duck , Seven Sows, Night Bell, laughing seed, 12 Walnut wine bar, and many other restuarants. (but not admiral or sunny point)

Have you considered changing hotels? Asheville is such a fun, walkable town, it would be a shame to have to drive out to Arden every day. While it's an easy drive in on the interstate, still...

I would recommend dining at the bar at the Admiral above all else. Of course, you couldn't walk there even if you switched to a downtown hotel, but it is so worth it. Sitting at the bar is about the only way to get in the Admiral without reserving several weeks in advance. It's a lively, casual place with great food and you'll meet interesting people also dining at the bar.

I'm not as huge a fan of Curate as most on this board, but they do have a lively and entertaining bar where you can eat the full menu and enjoy seeing it prepared.

Sunny Point makes a nice breakfast-or-lunch. If I wanted carry out, I would try to find the El Kimchee food truck, order bipimbap (sp?) and call it carbing up (rice).

Good luck at the marathon. I've considered doing the half at the Biltmore, it seems like a fun way to keep yourself entertained with scenery during a long run.

Unfortunately, there's nothing walkable from that location. I like Swamp Rabbit Grocery for bfast or lunch(love the hummus sandwich that comes with whatever vegetables are fresh and local + house-made salty stecca bread). Went to Papi's tacos today and had 2 tasty tacos and a nice view.

Northampton Wine Café has a very low key wine bar inside the wine store where you can order from the restaurant menu if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks for the reply! What did you eat at Stellar? That one has been off my radar lately...I think they may have closed and then re-opened... (?).

I like "nothing like grits and beer for breakfast" ;-)

It's funny, I was about to argue with you over Tupelo being a chain, but sure enough, after looking at their website I see they have really expanded. 10 years ago I'm pretty sure there was just the one in Asheville. I always thought it was overhyped, but was nonetheless pleased when they put an outpost in G'ville. That's the difference between Greenville and Asheville - things I would never go to in Asheville are a serious consideration for me here.

Glad you had some good meals and didn't freeze to death this weekend, and thanks again for reporting back.

I'm at a loss how to know what I'm going to like anymore. I think I need better "coffee words". I have always preferred a dark roast, but I really enjoy Intelligensia, which I understand tends to be lighter. I recently bought a gorgeous Wilfa Precision since I'm going to be working from home some (I rarely made coffee at home before). I'm unsure what beans to buy:

I know I like:Peets Major Dickason's BlendCamp 4 Coffee

I know I don't like:Perc la virgin de quadeloupeCounter Culter BaroidaAnything out of a Keurig

I'm not a Starbucks hater, but I'd like to try something a little different. I typically don't care for a citrus-y or wine-y flavor in coffee.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thanks for the remedial coffee education.

Molly, is Saigon the one on Pleasantburg? Do you prefer it to Mekong? Mekong is my favorite, but I'm not really all that expert at Vietnamese.

Pita house is tasty, I agree. I'm surprised by all the love for Bacon bros. I thought it was ok, but I'm not sure I'd make the drive from downtown.

If I were the OP, I'd drive up to restaurant 17 for an early dinner while you can still enjoy the mountain view. I think it's (by far) the best restaurant in Greenville County.

A heavy, but fairly tasty breakfast can be had at Tupelo HOney. I'd also like to plug Highway2Health on main street for the opposite...healthy wraps, salads and smoothies. Very nice owners of this relatively new spot.

Check out the Community Tap where if you get lucky and there's a food truck parked out front, you can eat inside and enjoy a draft or wine. I believe they have Foothills Sexual Chocolate on tap, but please don't drink it all before I can get some.

Nice pastry at Rick Erwin's market, but food just so so. Nice wine bar at Northhampton wines. New coffee place called Methodical just opened, I'm eager to try.

That sucks. Just like hot-spots in New York. I seem to recall being told I had counted the days wrong the last time I called and expressed surprise that some times were already full. Maybe it's 30 days, not 4 weeks? I've never run into the old busy-signal routine, though.

Quite good...all I was really looking for in a chicken chili recipe. I stayed true to the recipe except that I cut up a whole chicken, made my own stock from the legs, and pre-soaked and cooked some flageolet(sp?) beans instead of using canned. Oh, and I only used one jalepeno since my husband is a baby about spice, but I think two would have been the correct number.

How did it go? noticed you picked out 3 restaurants in hotels (Roux-Hilton, Vue 1923 - Grove Park, and Red Stag) Is that just a coincidence? I had never heard of the 1st two, had to Google them. Apparently Grove Park has renamed it's formerly most expensive/formal offering , Horizons.

I did not accuse Starbucks of trying to poison people. One thing I would like to point out, perhaps to put this old thread to bed, is that Starbucks NOW has the whole "skinny" thing clearly disclosed on their menu board. That wasn't the case back in 2012 when I posted. Thus they are making a clear effort NOT to poison people!

You're probably right. From past experience, if Elliot cooks it, it's probably good. I'm just surprised by the use of onion powder, garlic powder, and smoke powder. Also kinda creeped out by "sauce" that is by and large mayo. And I don't like catfish ;-)

Speaking of Dukes, though, I made pimento cheese for my Wisconsin relatives while I was up there at Christmas. Lacking Dukes mayo, my husband bought Helman's at a WI gro sto, and good lord....I couldn't believe how much (negative) difference it made. I had to hit it hard w/ the hot sauce to cover up the foul non-Duke's-ness !

Glad you stumbled into Sermet. It's never gotten much love here, and it's relatively recent renovation has made it look a bit touristy, but I've always enjoyed it and just love the grilled calamari there.

I would give some thought to having cocktails (or an $8 draft beer) at the Grove Park on their terrace, but eating elsewhere.

In addition to miss piggy's list (btw, don't underestimate how early you need to make reservations at the Admiral), I would add Nightbell for romantic atmosphere and interesting molecular gastronomy food.

Ah Ha! it took me 10 minutes to figure it out, but I think I just learned that if a post is submitted as a q&a instead of a discussion, then you can't reply to a specific comment further down. A very unfortunate new feature.

Anyhow, directed toward where the OP mentions looking for something cheaper than the Admiral, I want to mention that we consider Curate to be about the most expensive meal in town, especially at lunch, when the menu prices are the same as dinner. Unless you aren't hungry, just looking for nibbles to go with your drinks, you'll find Curate to be quite expensive.

I was at Edmunds Oast for the first time on Thursday. It's a gorgeous space, not as loud as at could be for the size of it. Very comfortable bar stools and plenty of them. The cocktails are CRAZY strong and the pumpkin custard, under the "snack" menu is super rich. Why am I telling you that? To say that after 1 drink and one snack I was drunk and full and so I don't really trust my own review. I liked it, for what that's worth.

The Ordinary is an even more beautiful space, very chic, and the capers blades and champagne I had there were both lovely. Didn't do dinner, because we headed on to Fig, which is imo by far the best restaurant in Charleston. Best I have been to in the Southeast. Fish is always spectacular and the vegetable dishes are dead on perfect.

I'm leaning toward getting a Nueske ham (local-ish to my in-laws) and the largest ones are 13 bone-in, 11lbs boneless.Thus my concern over how much is enough ham. There's no Honey Baked in Madison Wi to my knowledge. I wonder if Whole Foods would have one?

This is a retirement-community condo kitchen maintained by a recent widower, so absolute simplicity of prep is important.

Going to Charleston in February is very likely to impress you so much just with the weather that you might as well look for houses!

I like Eater's heatmap for finding new stuff, but I also agree with Sue that unless you eat in Charleston a lot, there is a lot of really great stuff that's on the radar. Unfortunately in my opinion, because I don't like getting "fully committed" attitude a month in advance from restaurants I've been eating in whenever I wanted to for years. ahem....